Thailand. Thai Indochina Trade Fair. Ubon Ratchathani

Last night we ventured to the Thai Indochina Trade Fair being held at the government offices here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand.

We don’t get a lot of these things here so it is always a little bit of fun to head on down and check what is on offer. This post will be about some of the food on offer and the next post will be on all the other stuff available there to buy.

We headed there early evening around 7:30pm so that it wouldn’t be as humid and hot. I also thought that maybe being a weeknight there wouldn’t be too many people around but I was wrong on both counts.

I went to the Trade Fair as it was called with my English mate Keith and his family and my girlfriend Noot and her younger sister Ben. The first thing I noticed when we arrived was a lot of cars in the surrounding streets and motorcycles parked here there and everywhere. We were very lucky and parked right at the gate and didn’t have very far to walk.

We walked in to a crowded area with many people squeezed down little aisles. Everyone was off in a hurry to find a bargain and the girls were mostly interested in the food, isn’t that a surprise for a Thai girl?


The first things I came across were Thai sausages that were on display for all to see and also taste or (shim) in Thai. These are okay and they do have some interesting flavours but they aren’t anything like a snag from back home.




The large round looking balls are; I have no idea but maybe it’s like a pudding of some kind. I could even be brave and buy one and give it a go at home, I am sure it couldn’t kill me and the worst would be that our lane dog Mew would get a few nights of food.





Now, there couldn’t be food on offer without the Thai staple of papaya salad. The ladies here were very busy and many people were waiting to get their fill of hot and very spicy green papaya. There were also deep fried potato chips on offer and some very smelly pastes of some kind.


You can see why I say that Isaan people are amazing people. When they came up with the phrase of “The Land of Smiles” I am sure they were referring to the people of the north. I hardly ever meet too many people down in the dumps but sure everyone has off days but somehow the people just manage to put on a really big grin when they see your farang face.

There were some dried and ugly looking fish on sale and I never buy these and I just cannot bring myself to eating them. I am not sure if they are smoked or what but sitting out in the heat just doesn’t appeal to me with seafood.

Now one very popular food here in Isaan is called salapow. It comes in a variety of flavours that can have meat, vegetables, sweets, eggs and all sorts of other things in them. They have a fluffy and light dough and are best ate steaming hot. They are cooked by steaming and these were being steamed in large wooden steamers made from bamboo I think.


Most people nowadays simply use a large aluminum steamer; I don’t think the flavour is any different, well from what I can taste. Noot and Ben were happy to relieve the lady of about 12 of these and were anxiously waiting for their food.

You can identify the different flavours by the small colour dots on the top of them. You can se the orange and if you look very closely you will see a yellow and grey dot as well on some of them.



Thai desserts are always popular and small cakes and cookies are usually the best. There also jelly like things that aren’t really jelly and don’t taste like jelly surprisingly! Some of them are very bland but the Thais seem to like them this way.

I came across a man and a lady selling a peanut style log. It looked good and when I tasted it, it was confirmed. It did taste really good. It was nougat with peanuts and sesame seeds and I bought a large bag for I have no idea as I had Noot purchase it I was too busy looking for picture opportunities.

There were slabs of this peanut log piled up and waiting to be bought. I might get back before the 9th and purchase a whole slab of the thing.


Next on the shopping list for the girls was a processed and dried pork sausage roll. It is like a salami but very sweet. It does taste nice with sticky rice but on its own I am not a big fan.

The last picture is of a pink egg, yes that is a pink egg and inside it is a black and opaque looking and the yoke well I am not sure. I have eaten eggs like this called “Thousand Day Eggs” These look similar and are also black and are cooked by burying them in the ground for a certain amount of time, not a thousand days though. They do taste okay but don’t look overly appetizing I know.

Now what would any food festival be without alcohol and on offer were the usual Thai wines. The sales people tell you of the great benefits they wines can do for you and just have a glass morning (great if an alcoholic) and then at night. This stall the lady mentioned antioxidants and how it was good for the skin and also made you look younger. The flavours were honey, lychee, grape and some others but I don’t remember. They had a rose wine and I am a big fan of this type of wine and I tried a little but it was just too sweet for me. I am not a drinker anymore but I used to enjoy a red wine here and there.


There was also “Pattaya North Vodka” on sale and the young lady behind the stall was mixing up samples for punters to try. She seen me and tried to get me to try some but vodka and I don’t mix as I got extremely drunk when I was younger on vodka and tequila and was sick for 4 days which I am sure was the spirits fault and not the beer. After that I couldn’t stand the taste of vodka and the smell of tequila made me dry reach.


We did buy a bit of food but not over the top as most of it can be purchased locally anyway but it was good to get out of the house with my family and also with my mates as well. Better than sitting at home in front of the computer surfing newspapers and reading blogs for hours, right?

So that was a quick rundown on the foods on offer and this was just a small amount and tomorrow I hope to have some of the products and also ladyboy pictures up as well.

So until then have a good morning/day/night.

Brunty
Flickr: Photos in 5 different sizes here.